SweepCast is a financial software platform that provides its users with unusual options activity. It’s able to scan for order flows and tape transactions and filter them right into the SweepCast database. Over the past couple of years, the investing narrative has shifted to retail vs institutions. And SweepCast is trying to give retail traders an even playing field. It was created by retail traders for retail traders and provides a direct look at where “smart money” is flowing to. So let’s get to this SweepCast review.
The site was founded in 2020. Therefore, it’s one of the newest options activity scanners in the industry. SweepCast incorporates the motto ‘beat the suits and ties’. This is an obvious reference to retail traders taking on Wall Street. While SweepCast is still in its early stages as a fintech startup, its brand is rapidly gaining popularity amongst the investing community. Let’s take a look at some of the features of SweepCast, and what sets the site apart from its competition.
Table of Contents
SweepCast Review Introduction
Before we get into this SweepCast review, let‘s do a quick review as to what unusual options activity is. As its name suggests, this revolves solely around the options market. What unusual options activity tracks is the volume and flow of higher than normal options trades, regardless of if they are bullish or bearish. The main metrics that matter are the number of contracts and how many orders are coming through. Following this so-called smart money is a strategy that retail traders incorporate, and it often works out well. Large volume option orders are usually indicative of things like insider knowledge.
Getting in before that information becomes public can give you an excellent entry point, and you could see a massive gain in the price of your options contracts. It could also indicate that smart money is running technical analysis algorithms on the stock and anticipate breakout in the near future.
What They Offer
The heart and soul of this SweepCast review is its unusual options activity scanner. This is the main feature of the site and really what users are paying the subscription fee for. SweepCast’s unusual options activity scanner is extremely efficient and has a wonderfully simple user interface.
The screen itself is color-coded, so you can immediately tell if an order is a put or call, and if the sentiment is bullish or bearish. Incorporating your own personal watchlist makes it easy to monitor your favorite stocks to trade.
Hovering over the scanner provides incredible detail about the options order, as well as any potential catalysts. For example, a lot of options order flow comes in around quarterly earnings reports. SweepCast not only lists the strike price, expiry date, and the number of orders, it also provides the earnings date as well.
Another feature that has been well incorporated into my options scanning is the availability of historical data. Look back in time at previous orders. Then compare that to how the options flow has been coming in recently, as well as in the future. This is incredibly helpful when you’re trying to learn how certain stocks trade. And how accurate previous large orders have been.
Trading Community
SweepCast is really trying to build a trading community, rather than just a web-based platform. There’s an ongoing SweepCast chat room built right into the app. You can share ideas and theories with other traders. SweepCast has given us the ability to chat and share all within the same chatroom.
SweepCast offers full-in-app support via a live chat function, and also offers users some helpful articles. They can also be reached on social media via Twitter or Facebook. And in addition to the chatroom, SweepCast also offers a live Discord server where there is around the clock activity.
Currently, there isn’t a mobile specific app. But the platform is fully functional in both a web-based and mobile browser. SweepCast is adding new functions and enhancements every month, and recently added the ability to export to .CSV files as well as personal account management. This is why we wrote this SweepCast review.
What’s In Store for SweepCast?
There are a ton of new features in the pipeline for SweepCast as the platform continues to build itself out. Hence our SweepCast review. In the near future, we can expect additions like dark pool data, filtering by ETF or stock, and SMS alerts for your watchlist. These are just some of the list of updates that SweepCast posts right on the site to keep users informed. Don’t be surprised if there is a mobile app added in the future considering how popular it is to trade directly from our phones.
What Does SweepCast Cost? (Pricing Review)
Here’s a SweepCast review of their pricing. The pricing structure isn’t outrageous for SweepCast. In fact, it’s more or less in line with much of its competition. Essentially, if you can hit one big gain on an options flow alert from SweepCast, you’ve easily paid for your whole year’s subscription cost. The monthly charge for SweepCast is $39.99 per month, which gives you full access to all of the site’s features. There’s also an annual cost of $249.99, which is a 40% discount from the monthly rate.
In case you weren’t sure about committing to a monthly or annual subscription without trying the product, SweepCast does offer a 10-day trial. It isn’t a free trial though and will cost you $18.00 per trial which is unusual. You’re actually better off paying for an entire month at $39.99, than paying $18.00 for only ten days.
One of the best parts about SweepCast is that the price you initially subscribe at is the price you will continue to pay. Even if SweetpCast raises the subscription prices in the future, you will be locked in at the lower rate. If you’re interested in subscribing to SweepCast, it definitely benefits you to do so at this early stage.
Does SweepCast Have Competition?
Yes, the unusual options activity market has surged in popularity over the past couple of years. The COVID-19 pandemic brought stock and options trading to the mainstream and magnified the retail vs Wall Street narrative. Because of this, there have been several unusual options activity platforms that have become extremely popular with retail traders. Hence this SweepCast review.
FlowAlgo: One of the most popular platforms and one of the original unusual options activity scanners. FlowAlgo was founded back in 2017 and offers a full suite of options activity features for its users. Understandably, FlowAlgo’s subscription rates are more expensive than SweepCast, costing $99 per month for the annual rate.
CheddarFlow: If you follow options traders on Twitter, you’ll most likely see them post screens from CheddarFlow. It has a familiar interface and provides clear data about options activity. CheddarFlow has three tiers of subscriptions ranging from $75 to $99 per month. ChedarFlow even incorporates TradingView charting so you can run your own technical analysis right in the app.
Unusual Whales: One of the more popular accounts on FinTwit, Unusual Whales is a retail-friendly options flow scanner. Unusual Whales has a very strong community of traders and offers a popular Discord server as well as a Twitter bot. The bot tweets options flow on Twitter for free. But it’s delayed from when paid users receive the alerts. Unusual Whales charges $30 per month or $330 per year, although the site does run subscription sales frequently.
BlackBox Stocks: Another popular FinTwit account, BlackBox Stocks is a more established options flow scanner. It provides a robust scanning platform, although its user interface isn’t quite as intuitive or friendly as others. BlackBox Stocks also charge a premium subscription price of $99 per month or $959 per year, which is similar to FlowAlgo and CheddarFlow.
Is SweepCast Worth It?
Nothing in investing or options trading is guaranteed. With that disclaimer out of the way, unusual options activity can definitely be a helpful tool to add your investing strategy. Not every alert works out.
However, when it does, there’s the opportunity to make some pretty hefty gains. Like I said, one big trade can easily pay for your entire year’s subscription. You do need to have SweepCast open as you trade though.
This means that SweepCast is really only worth it for active traders who trade options contracts. Long-term passive investors simply won’t get the same value out of SweepCast as traders. In other words, this SweepCast review is for active traders.
SweepCast Stock Price and Symbol: Are They Publicly Traded?
Investors cannot purchase shares of SweepCast because the company is privately held.
SweepCast Review Final Thoughts
We hope you enjoyed this SweepCast review. They’re the new kid on the block in the options flow scanner market. There are some heavy hitters that are well established like FlowAlgo and CheddarFlow, but sites like SweepCast and Unusual Whales are gaining popularity with retail traders. In my experience with SweepCast, it is an awesome site to use and extremely simple to learn. The user interface is clean and the site is always adding enhancements to make it a more complete product. If you are interested, I’d sign up for a full month over the $18 10-day trial, and if you like it, lock in that price as early as you can!
